Quiz of The Week: 14 - 20 December

Find out how closely you’ve been paying attention to the latest news and other global events by putting your knowledge to the test with our Quiz of The Week.

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1. Italian woman Ottavia Piana was rescued in the early hours of Wednesday morning after four days trapped in what?

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• A well
• A cave
• A car
• A ventilation shaft

2. Which Japanese carmakers are mulling a merger?

• Honda and Nissan
• Toyota and Mitsubishi
• Nissan and Mazda
• Subaru and Toyota

3. A trial of what form of autonomous transport has been cancelled in Scotland due to low uptake?

• Bus
• Taxi
• Tram
• Train

4. Which invasive species with a deadly sting has been eradicated from the US, five years after the first sighting?

• Spider wasp
• Africanised honeybee
• Northern giant hornet
• Eastern yellowjacket

5. A novella by which 19th-century Russian author has become an unexpected viral sensation on TikTok?

• Tolstoy
• Pushkin
• Chekhov
• Dostoevsky

6. Which actor received the US Navy's top civilian honour?

• Clint Eastwood
• Tom Cruise
• Dwayne Johnson
• Brad Pitt

7. The Chinese businessman and friend of Prince Andrew deemed a national security risk was referred to by what codename?

• T1
• C9
• H6
• R3

8. Australian breakdancer Raygun has reached an agreement to allow what kind of show, inspired by her Olympic viral fame?

• A musical comedy
• An opera
• A ballet
• A puppet show

9. Which model plays Elton John in a new video for his 1973 Christmas classic "Step Into Christmas"?

• Gigi Hadid
• Cara Delevingne
• Kate Moss
• Chloë Sevigny

10. A state of emergency has been declared in which US state after a series of bird flu outbreaks?

• Louisiana
• Minnesota
• California
• Washington

1. A cave

Piana was one of a team of speleologists – scientists who study caves – mapping an unexplored area of the Abisso Bueno Fonteno cave system near Bergamo, when she fell several metres, sustaining multiple fractures. In a complex operation involving 150 rescue workers, she was finally brought to safety and is currently recovering in hospital.

2. Honda and Nissan

In a joint statement, the brands said they were "considering various possibilities for future collaboration, but no decisions have been made". If a merger goes ahead, the resulting company would be the world's third-largest carmaker by production and sales.

3. Bus

The 14-mile route between Edinburgh and Fife was operated by a fleet of five self-driving buses, although each one included a human driver at the wheel in case of emergencies. However, the £6 million project, which began in May, is to wind down due to low passenger numbers.

4. Northern giant hornet

The first giant hornet, also known as a "murder hornet", was spotted in Washington in 2019. "More than 1,000 'citizen scientists'" and state specialists tracked down and trapped the hornets to eradicate their nests. The last confirmed sighting was in 2021.

5. Dostoevsky

"White Nights" has blown up on #booktok, more than 170 years after it was first published. It's unclear exactly how the novella first attracted attention on the platform, but The Guardian suspects that its theme of loneliness and readable length make it appealing to contemporary readers.

6. Tom Cruise

The actor was given the Distinguished Public Service Award during a ceremony at Longcross Studios in Surrey in recognition of his "outstanding contributions to the Navy and the Marine Corps" for his work in "Top Gun" and other films.

7. H6

Yang Tengbo, whose identity was finally revealed on Monday, was banned from the UK last week. Yang had appealed a decision last year to expel him, but an appeals court upheld the verdict, saying the then home secretary, Suella Braverman, was "entitled to conclude" that he posed a risk to national security.

8. A musical comedy

The dancer, real name Rachael Gunn, had taken legal action to block the staging of comedian Steph Broadbridge's show "Raygun: The Musical". However, the pair have now come to an agreement that will allow the performance to go ahead, under the name "Breaking the Musical".

9. Cara Delevingne

The model said Elton John was an "idol" of hers and that being approached to don his signature get-up for the recreation was a "dream that I didn’t know I had until it happened". The clip is a whimsical riff on the original, framed as a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the making of the 1973 video.

10. California

Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency as H5N1 avian flu outbreaks spread southwards from dairies in the state's Central Valley. The proclamation came after federal health officials reported the nation's first severe bird flu infection in a Louisiana resident.